


The incident on Growlar II

by Lionessinthedark



Series: Star Trek into darkness.....a bit different [8]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Graphic Description of Injuries, M/M, Post-Star Trek: Into Darkness, death?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 06:01:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4127620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lionessinthedark/pseuds/Lionessinthedark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Khan is severely injured....And the depth of Marcus' warmongering is revealed</p>
            </blockquote>





	The incident on Growlar II

Scotty’s voice: “I’ve got him, But I’m telling ya....he’s not a pretty sight! Beam us up!”

Bones had been warned and had already a medic team and a stretcher ready as Scotty and.......something....... that was barely recognizable as a human being were beamed up. A head and a torso and the rest? A heap of flesh, bones and blood. But it was...despite all the horrifying injuries...still alive. Breathing. And that gave away that it must be Khan. No one else could still be alive.

They hurried to the sickbay where Bones tried to stay calm: “Open your eyes Khan...you are safe...we’ve got you.”

Khan slowly whispered: “No... need.... to..... open....my ....eyes. They’re.......gone.....they.....took.....my.......eyes.....they......took.....almost.......everything. Nothing.....left...inside......they....knew.....what.....to......do......to...keep.....me.......alive.....for.......long........and.......then......kill......me! Did.....you....we..........manage?”

Bones could barely say anything. The pain in his breast nearly made him choke: “Yes Khan.....we got every single one out....saved them all!”

With his right hand, which was a bloody mess of visible bones and torn flesh, Kahn grabbed at Bones clothes: “Fine .....then.....please....Bones......have.....mercy......kill.....me.....cant....live.....like......this......for.....months.......and months.......ruined.... my..... healing....... abilities.....have .....mercy.....please....”.and his hand fell down on the bloody sheets of the bio bed.

Bones had tears running down his cheeks as he stabbed the needle into Khan’s neck. He and two nurses managed to put Khan into the scanner. Bones wanted to know exactly how bad Khan’s injuries were, before he would do anything. Even without Khan’s healing abilities the 23th century’s medicine could do a lot. But he needed to know how bad it was.

Khan’s body was still alive, still breathing, but Bones nearly vomited as he looked at the scan. Determined he walked to Khan’s unconscious body: “I’m sorry.....but I cannot kill you. I can give you peace and I know that it is cruel to keep you alive.....but I just can’t kill you!”

They moved the body into the cryo-tube and activated the cryo sequence. They had 20 cryo-tubes on each Constitution-class ship now......new and enhanced designs. They were handy in case of causalities and would keep people alive until they could be handed over to more advanced hospitals if the med-bay on board couldn’t do enough.

Bones sat down and the nurses started cleaning the stretcher and the bio bed. There was lots of blood. Oh my...there....were....lots....of....blood....and....and....tissue!!! Bones just sat there looking at the scan. He couldn’t believe his eyes: of the internal organs only heart and lungs were to be seen. The pelvis was crushed into only tiny pieces and so were the femurs, yeah almost every bone in the body were broken. It was much worse as the incident with the dinosaur. At least everything was there then, even though crushed and chewed up on. Bones shivered....impossible to imagine the horrifying and unbearable pain Khan had lived in for more than a week. How could everything go down the sewer that much?

__________________________

2 weeks before:

It was just a request from the human colony on Growlar II. A rather new colony with only 1000 inhabitants. They needed supplies from the nearest solar system and the idea was that the USS Enterprise should transport about 200 more colonists together with the supplies. They were not so far away from the Klingon Empire’s territories, but not close enough to be a problem. They were not at war yet.....and everyone hoped that the end of Admiral Marcus had poured oil on troubled waters and that hopefully no one had noticed Khan’s attack on Qo’noS.  
But as they approached Growlar II with the new colonists and all their stuff, they received a message from the colony that they had been contacted by natives. There were not supposed to be any higher life forms on that planet!

As they finally landed on the planet’s surface near the colony, leaving the 200 new colonist on board the USS Enterprise and only landing shuttles without the supplies, they....that was Khan, Jim, Spock, Uhura and a few others....both officers, lieutenants and ensigns from security and science....met the colonists that could tell that the natives had quite a story to tell and that they of course would insist on the departure of the colonists as soon as possible. There was going to be a meeting the day after between the two groups and the colonists departure was the topic.

Khan and Spock decided to take a look at one of the native villages. The natives story was that they were nomads: that they migrated between the open land and caves in the nearby mountains. 3 generations in the caves and 3 generations in the open landscapes. They hadn’t been discovered as they were living in the caves. It was part of their religion....and as a part of that they didn’t want to be a part of the Federation either. They did allow a few members of their society though to learn “Standard” (the 23th century equivalent of pidgin-English) thus able to communicate with the colonists.

Khan and Spock studied one of the native villages. “It’s fake” concluded Khan. And he continued: “I think they are Klingons. What amazes me is that they haven’t just eliminated the colony, but just put up this scenario. Maybe it’s not something the emperor knows of or some other weird reason?” Spock agreed in Khan’s conclusion when he himself discovered the small discrepancies and faults in the village life.

Therefore the colonists refused to move and now the weapons were retrieved in the village. Things escalated. A few kills were made on both sides. They decided to evacuate the colonists. The crew of SS Enterprise and Khan decided to make a diversion attack together with a few others to ensure that they got the colonists out unharmed. The diversion group were captured, but they made a fine distraction so the rest of the crew managed to evacuate all the colonists. No one had expected it to be that difficult to find Khan. They found the others and beamed them up. They were beaten, injured but alive. But they couldn’t find Khan until Scotty found him in one of the caves......close to death. The Klingons had left him to die after they had tortured him for more than a week.  
__________________________

Jim and Spock came into the med bay just as Bones had put down the scan pictures.

“How is he?” asked Jim.

Bones looked at both of them: “It’s serious. His torturers almost took away his “factories”...those with the nano-robots. They crushed his pelvis and removed it and removed his femurs too. They’ve sliced muscle tissue away from him as if he was a slaughtered animal. And the rest of the horrifying details, I’ll spare you, just put it short: I do not think I can keep him alive. He is going to die unless you have a very smart plan for sedating him for the most of 12 months at least, because if he is going to heal by himself with a very limited amount of nano-robots and the help from our advanced medicine, he is going to be literally insane because of the pain and his body could go into chock: blood pressure would fall and his body will graduately shut down piece by piece, organ by organ of which by the way nearly none are left. You cannot expect anyone....not even Khan.....to tolerate and endure so much pain!”

Spock asked: “What have you done to him?”

Bones: “I’ve sedated him.....with a sedation that would not be able to make any of you feel just slightly dizzy. He......he begged me to kill him. He knew exactly how bad it was.....but I can’t.......I just can’t!”

Jim looked at Bones with a horrifying expression on his face: “He’s going to die then? Just like the rest of us do, when we make mistakes? We have just let him down this one time too many.....being so sure that he was a superman!!!!”

Bones: “And even if we could clone him a new body, it’ll take at least 5 years to have a suitable clone. I’m not even sure he can stay alive in cryo-stasis in his condition for that long!”

Spock looked at Jim and Bones: “If you will excuse me. There is something I would like to investigate before we totally abandon his possibilities of survival” and he turned around and left the med-bay.

Bones looked at Jim: “Care for a drink?” and he showed Jim his “secret” bottle of whiskey.  
_______________________________

Spock had asked Jim to meet him together with Bones in the med-bay the day after.

Spock looked at the cryo tube that contained Khan and said: “He knew there would be a risk. That it was a trap. He knew the risk....he knew they were Klingons...and he knew that they might recognize him. He told me that it was only logical to assume that some of those Klingons might have had inside knowledge about his augmented nature. He saw that on Qo’noS. In London Khan volunteered to some....experiments.....when he saw what the scientists did to some of the younger augments. They were 80 functioning cryo tubes, when Marcus found Botany Bay and they have thawed others and used them for experiments. Khan was not just making weapons and star ships. He was a lab rat too. Sector 31 knew exactly what Khan’s body could cope. I’ve seen it in his mind. It was horrifying and that alone could have annulled his death sentence way back at his trial on Earth.  
Thus concluding that not only was Admiral Marcus planning the war against the Klingon Empire but the Klingons had retrieved information directly from the top of the Star fleet and sector 31. The Klingon Emperor and Marcus both wanted that war!“

Spock turned to Jim and Bones: “By risking torture and his death he had proven that his hypothesis was right and he not alone gave us time to save the colonists but has given us time to make precautions against the war. By torturing and killing him the Klingons have made a mistake....it has shown us the depth of Marcus’s betrayal and warmongering. The Emperor and Marcus worked together towards the same goal: war!”

Spock looked at the cryotube again and put his hand on it: “His sacrifice was bigger than you could know. I’ve been in his mind. I have seen things there that acquire lots of meditation for me to cope. He did warn me. “There are places and memories in my mind you should leave alone” he said, but I’m afraid that the human part of me is devoted to curiosity so I looked sometimes during our mind melds. Thank god I could keep it away from you, Jim! When we fought, when I thought you dead Jim, back in San Francisco, he could just have let me into his mind and conducted me to some of them and he could have had me paralyzed at least for time enough to be able to fight back. But he didn’t. He was not trained in these areas, but he could have done it never the less”

Spock looked back at Jim and Bones again: “It was not necessary for him to endure the torture. He deliberately bought us time by coping. He was able of stopping his own heart at will....or at least he would have been able to do so, before his body gave up. I cannot allow him to die. We need him! But what I’m telling you know is one of the biggest Vulcan secrets and I’m violating my own upbringing!”

Bones and Jim looked shocked. Spock had seldom shown so many feelings nor spoken that much. They just nodded: “Your secret is safe with us” they both said.

Spock: “I’ll offer my body to contain his mind, his soul, his “Katra” as long as it takes for his body to heal. His soul will be inside me...sort of sleeping. I can live with that....duality....but I’ll not be able to work. I’ll have to meditate a lot. Thus only been given the option to stay on New Vulcan either in my father’s house or by my elder self. I’ve contacted them and they have given me their permission. Actually they are now on their way. I’m sorry captain. I’ve overstepped my powers here.”

Jim: “It’s OK”

Bones looked at Spock: “Are you telling me that the soul is a real thing and that it can be transferred, contained and removed!?!”

Spock just looked at him: “You have doubted that?”

“Yeah....we’ve never managed on Earth to prove it scientifically......I just thought that when we died it was it!”

Spock looked shocked.....that is that his eyebrows were lifted: “I now find that the bravery and courage of humans to be even more profound. If that assumption is general that death is the end of everything amongst humans”

Both Bones and Jim: “It is!”

Spock turned to Jim: “Was that your knowledge too, when you decided to go into that Warp Core chamber? That you not alone would end your existence in this life but forever?”

Jim looked at him: “I’m not religious......so yes.....I have always believed that it was it, when you died!”

Spock stood for several seconds without saying a word: “I....think....that Vulcans and other races would have to reconsider our views upon humans. You are much braver than anyone would have thought......”  
_______________________

Of course Jim and Bones were curious and wanted to know more....if it was allowed?

  
And Spock explained: “On Vulcan there were congregations of crystals in some mountains. At some time in our ancient history someone found out how to put those crystals together with some herbal essences and thus making...hm....something similar to the ancient Egyptian canope. I can’t help thinking that they have had similar ideas in Egypt on Earth but the knowledge has been lost. The soul...the “Katra”.... of the willing and suited person can be transferred to this katric ark and “sleeps” until it is awakened again by mind meld or by being put into another body. Either a body of its own or someone who had agreed to be a host. We lost all our katric arks as Vulcan was destroyed.....all our ancestors...” Spock sighed and continued: “...and we have not been able to find those crystals anywhere yet. Another problem is that all the priests that were able to collect those “Katras” and later perform the Fal-Tor-Pan-ritual and putting them back in a body again, well they died at the destruction too. The only remains are the families of the “not-so-suited” and therefore not priest-materiel, namely my family. That is why we’ll have to be 3 of us. We are not that skilled”

  
Both Jim and Bones were curious and Jim asked: “How do you know that it works?”

  
As if it had been the key-word Spock prime and Spock’s father Sarek came into the med-bay and heard Jim’s question. And Spock Prime answered: “Because my young captain. That is how I survived when it was I that died in that radiation-chamber. My dead body landed on the Genisis-planet and was re-vitalized and my universe’s Bones were so kind to host my soul until my body could be retrieved. It is not only in your reality that we do not always obey rules! I do now understand why this desperate line of action could succeed. My “Bones” must have had Vulcan genes in him as well...as you found out recently because of some....hm....events......that a lot of humans have...”

  
The younger Spock had turned a bit green on his ears and his cheeks and Jim looked at him: “You didn’t tell, did you!?!”

  
Spock: “I had to Jim. They...” and he pointed at his father and Spock Prime: “...would only be able to understand why I would take that risk and actually be able to perform the task of hosting Khan if they knew that he was my T’hy’la and I had to admit too that you were too....” His ears and cheeks were very green now.

  
Sarek said:”It is rather unusual, but not totally unheard of, that 3 young men could be each other’s T’hy’las. There were traces in literature. But it was not seen upon with content in the more modern times and therefore suppressed. I have no problem with your relationship even though I would like my son to have offspring. His genes would be needed but not necessary his body and as you have discovered there are a hidden gene-pool in the people of Earth, so the risk of inbreeding on New Vulcan has been diminished. As you can hear I’m not from the political fraction that thinks that the only way of maintaining the Vulcan culture is to put it in a box and not letting others in. “Keeping the blood clean”. If we do not mingle with others we’ll be extinct because of inbreeding. We are in fact inviting humans to join us on New Vulcan. Thank god there are more than 9 billions of you!” And Sarek smiled....Sarek smiled!!!

  
Back to the more serious matters. How could they make Kahn’s body survive? And how soon would they need to transfer his katra to Spock’s body?

  
Spock Prime had some advice: “When I was in another body I willed myself to sleep. I hope you would be able to convince Khan of doing the same thing. He is capable of meditating I suppose?”

  
“Very much...he had even shown me techniques that I didn’t know of” answered Spock.

  
“You’ll just have to accept that your 1st officer takes leave for a while” said Sarek to Jim.

  
“It’s a price I’m willing to pay. But I’m not the person who is taking the biggest risk here. Are you sure about this, Spock, and can you two assure me that there practically no risk is by carrying out this procedure?”

  
Spock looked at Jim: “I will not hide from you, that there is a risk. But I’m not in the greatest danger. The greatest danger is that Khan would suffer from amnesia when he can get back in his own or a new body. That we are not skilled enough to perform the whole ritual. But he can’t be worse off than he is right know, can he? I’ll estimate that we’ll have a success rate of more than 77% and can enhance it even more by cutting down the time, where he is away from a body of his own.”

  
He turned to Bones: “If I remember correctly you have extra nano robots of his stored away frozen and several litres of his blood too?”

  
“I have......because of his antibodies. To be used on others when they might get diseases like the Andorian plague or get exposed to those little monsters: the sea wasps on Xotoi. But there is a severe problem. His body have no longer the places where those nano robots can build their “factories”. There is no longer a pelvis nor are there femurs in that broken body and the bone marrow in the bones all the other places in his body they cannot build up sufficient amounts of nano robots and other platelets to rebuild his body within a reasonable time.”

  
And Spock Prime asked: “What is an un-reasonable time then?”

  
Bones looked at him and said:”Even if I had the most advanced laboratory equipment and the most advanced hospital regeneration-tools it would be not less than a year. It can’t be rushed. If we boot the re-growth too much it turns into cancer.” He continued: “And cloning a new full grown body will take at least 5 years, unless.......”

  
They all looked at him: “Unless?!”

  
“Unless we all risk our careers and break all rules and regulations and ask the Vortas from the “Dominion” in the Gamma Quadrant. At a doctors congress I heard about them....not officially....but during lunch. They should be able to make fully grown up clones in about 3 months or even quicker or so the rumours say. They are humanoids and their physiology don’t differ that much from humans or Vulcans or the other humanoids in our quadrant.”

  
___________________________

The involved officers discussed the possibilities on a very secret meeting. Only Jim, Spock, Spock Prime, Sarek, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, Bones and Scotty and a few others were present. How could they justify to travel to the Gamma quadrant? But thankfully Jim had good news: the Federation had been contacted by the Dominion, the first careful approach, and the crew of the USS Enterprise had shown remarkably diplomatic skills and had been chosen to be the first to meet representatives from the Dominion, namely the Vortas.

  
Now they just had to find out how to persuade the Vortas to make a clone. And transfer Khan’s katra to Spock. They didn’t dare to wait any longer.

_______________________

Bones, Sarek, Spock prime and Spock and a nurse stood in the med bay. Spock, Spock Prime and Sarek wore similar outfits...... red robes with some strange patterns on. They were not the original robes as they were lost on Vulcan, but some makeshift ones that they had made the ship computer replicate.

  
Bones had asked if a sedated mind could be retrieved and the answer was that they didn’t know, but they thought so as a katra from a dying person could be, so why not a sedated one?

  
Spock Prime and Sarek looked horrified as they looked at Khan’s demolished body: “How can he even be alive?” They hadn’t seen the total amount of the injuries before as they hadn't seen anything else than the cryo tube before.

  
Bones activated the thawing process and the nurse stood ready with a hypo-needle with sedation. Just a mild one. Just as soon as the body in the cryo tube showed signs of pain the sedation was administered. Sarek and Spock Prime touched Khans head at places that at first glance looked as the same places for a mind meld, but there were differences. Spock touched besides their touches and called in his mind:

  
* **Khan...it is me. Spock** *

  
* **Hnng....what happened...so much pain...** * was the answer.

  
* **You are dying. Your body is severely destroyed. We couldn’t let you die though. I am offering my body as a container for your soul** *

  
A laughter inside..

  
* **If you knew we had one, why didn’t you say so, you green bastard** *

  
* **Thought you knew. You mentioned something about it once** *....and Spock quickly showed their conversation way back on Earth after Khan’s first trial.

  
* **I’m only accepting your offer if it is not dangerous for you! And how are you going to get me a new body? I can’t stay in you forever!** *

  
*T **he danger is not on my side and this will buy us time to heal your body!** *

  
* **Accepted with gratitude then. Can I do something to protect you?** *

  
* **Sleep** *

  
* **For centuries....?** * a sense of a laughter again.

  
* **Not for that long!** *

  
* **Anything else you want me to do?** *

  
And know the presence of 2 other minds in Khan’s head: * **Just acceptance** *

  
Spock swayed as he felt Khan in his own head. It was a bit like a mind meld but then so much more.

  
* **I better go to sleep as soon as possible. Don’t use the opportunity to poke in my bad memories. You know what they do to you!** * said Khan’s voice in Spock’s head and then there was a mental picture of Khan as a black cat curled up tucking its head under its tail.

  
Sarek and Spock Prime removed their hands from Khan’s head.

  
Spock asked if Khan’s body could live. Bones told him that he wasn’t sure but that he intended to do what he could do to make it do so. Using all the 24th century’s medical knowhow to heal the body. Bone regenerators, muscle tissue regenerators and so forth. Just in case. If they could not persuade the Vortas.

  
__________________________

Jim was sitting in the captains chair in the upper bridge (remember that Khan and Scotty had insisted on an extra more protected bridge in the middle of the hull?). He already missed Spock, but Spock and Spock Prime and Sarek had not left the ship, just retreated to Spock’s cabin and the cabin next to that. It belonged to Scotty but he didn’t mind staying in a crew-cabin closer to his beloved machines.

Spock was on leave permanently until or even beyond their arrival at the Vorta home planet.

  
“Full warp ahead towards the Gamma quadrant....Planet Kurill Prime” said Jim.

  
“Ay ay sir” was helmsman Sulu’s answer.

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in the universe of "Star Trek...alternate reality". The biggest difference is that "my" Khan's background-story is different. That might be a bit confusing if you haven't read from the beginning. The series are supposed to be read in chronological order. In the end (and that is not quite written yet, not all of it) you will understand why Khan's background story differs from the one in the movie.
> 
> I do not own the characters.  
> And I excuse if there a major grammatical failures. English is not my native tongue.


End file.
